Bengali books archive#

Some examples of both types date back a hundred years. Besides the chapbook proper, pamphlet-type publications introducing new films or plays have been digitised and unusual types of material documented, like Islamic-style kissa books, bound at the right margin and written in a strongly Islamic idiom or books presenting Oriya texts in Bengali script. They also illustrate interesting printing and marketing practices not found in elite publishing. Though not technically ephemera, these books seldom last as they are cheaply produced and fragile, and their clients do not belong to a culture of reading and conservation.Ĭovering all subjects from religion to pornography, mythology to technology, law and government, these books mirror social and mental life in the humbler reaches of Bengali society. They are sold by pedlars and at roadside stalls, village markets and fairs. The aim of the project was to digitise the wide range of books circulating at a very humble, popular level in West Bengal, India, especially Kolkata and surrounding districts. Scattered copies with individual buyers would be untraceable and eventually lost.Ī digital copy of each title will be deposited with the British Library, whilst the originals will remain with Jadavpur University, or with the individual collectors and libraries that own them. A tiny fraction might remain with private collectors, unknown to most researchers. Without this project, most of the material would simply vanish without trace. They are sometimes found only in single copies in remote locations. Reprints and new editions may appear, but each issue has a very short market life as well as a short shelf life. Each print run is quickly exhausted, almost like ephemera though not technically such. The paper and printing of these books is poor and readily deteriorates, especially given the hot humid climate. However, the majority are in a fit state for scanning or digital photography. They were invariably printed cheaply on poor paper, quickly discoloured, and badly handled and preserved. They illustrate special sectors of Bengali printing history and book trade and special developments of the Bengali language. The great variety is itself crucial to the social picture. The books are of unique sociological interest, illustrating a changing society, culture and economy of Bengal at a popular level. The material covers such varied subjects as religion, folk culture, local history, popular literature, pornography and erotica, popular redactions of elite practices such as fashion and cookery, instruction on traditional rural pursuits such as agriculture and animal farming) and instruction on technical occupations such as repairing machinery and appliances, citizen's rights, law, government procedure, public hygiene and social reform. The latter have received some attention, but the 'street literature' has never been collected or archived, and seldom studied - they are totally ignored in formal literary and academic circles.

They are at a still more humble, demotic level than 'Bat-tala' publications. They exist alongside elite publications, but are marketed through entirely different channels for a different readership: through the humbler type of bookshops, but more often through hawkers on roads, buses and trains, in stalls and village haats (temporary markets).

Bengali books archive#

This project aims to archive Bengali 'popular books' - street literature targeted at a demotic, non-metropolitan public, using traditional obsolescent technology, geared to a non-elite, virtually pre-industrial social phase.

Why you need to protect your intellectual property.

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